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4/28/2007 无查资料时突然发现，初中某深冬之夜蜷缩于被窝里极力描摹的贺年卡封面竟然是筱原千绘的＜魔影紫光＞...
怀念＜天是红河岸＞－－经典的穿越，思念阿暴－－你下巴上络绎不绝的青春痘，想念所有的朋友－－在一起的美好时光～～
抓紧时间睡觉了．．．
4/22/2007 Redwood trees: Ancient giantsRedwood trees 海岸红杉 Ancient giants 远古巨人 Apr 12th 2007 From The Economist print edition  HIDDEN in the damp rainforest valleys of northern California are the world's tallest trees. Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) can rise more than 35 storeys above the ground, reaching heights of up to 380 feet (116m). The trunks of redwood “titans” (the largest redwoods in terms of how much wood they contain) can measure 30 feet in diameter. And although no one knows for certain, botanists suspect that some of these “blue whales of the plant kingdom” may be between 2,000 and 3,000 years old—roughly the same age as the Parthenon in Athens. 北加州潮湿的热带雨林山谷中，隐藏着世界上最高的树。海岸红杉（Sequoia sempervirens 也称加州红木）可以长到高过地面上35层楼，达到380英尺（116米）。红木“泰坦”（就含木量而言为最大的红木）的树干直径经测量有30英尺。虽然还不能确定，但植物学家们怀疑在这些“植物王国中的蓝鲸”中，一些已有2000到3000年的树龄了——几乎相当于希腊帕台农神庙的悠久历史。 In “The Wild Trees” (a “wild tree” is one that has never been climbed) Richard Preston, the author of several bestsellers, tells the story of the botanists and naturalists who are committed to preserving the remaining fragment of what was once a 2m-acre (810,000 hectare) redwood forest. His book revolves around three main characters: Steve Sillett, now a professor of redwood-forest ecology at Humboldt State University, who pioneered the “skywalking” method of tree climbing; Marie Antoine, a Canadian botanist, who married Mr Sillett in a lofty arboreal ceremony; and Michael Taylor, an amateur naturalist, who in August 2006 realised his life's ambition when he found the world's tallest tree, a redwood called Hyperion that is currently 379.1 feet tall. 在《野生树》（野生树是未曾攀爬过的树）一书中，畅销书作家帕雷斯顿（Richard Preston）讲述了植物学家，博物学家们致力于保护一片曾有二百万英亩（810，000公顷）红木林遗留面积的故事。在他书中涉及到三个主要人物：史蒂夫·西莱特（Steve Sillett），现于洪堡州立大学（Humboldt State University）任红木林生态学教授，开创过“天空漫步”的攀树方法；玛丽·安东尼（Marie Antoine），加拿大植物学家，在一棵高耸入云的树上举行婚礼嫁给西莱特；迈克·泰勒（Michael Taylor），业余博物学家，2006年8月发现世界上最高的树，现在379.1英尺高的红木“夏比利安”（Hyperion），彼时也意识到了自己生命中的抱负。 Mr Preston's elegant narrative avoids scientific jargon but reveals the passion that scientists have for the ecosystem of the redwood canopy: a “vertical Eden” teeming with life, like “coral reefs in the air”. Here, hundreds of feet up, the redwood's massive limbs are fused into flying buttresses and carved by forest fires into blackened chambers called “fire caves”. 普雷斯顿简洁的叙述方式避免了科学术语的使用，而是展现了科学家对于树冠生态系统的热情：充满生命的“垂直伊甸园”，像是“空中的珊瑚礁”。在这里，几百英尺高的地方，红木粗大的树枝熔铸成飞拱，在森林大火中被塑造成幽黑密室“出火坑”。 Thick layers of canopy soil (aerial dirt that has accumulated over the centuries) nurture an array of plant and animal life: lichens (186 species have been found in the redwood canopy so far), hanging gardens of ferns, thickets of huckleberry bushes, flowering rhododendrons, red tree voles, salamanders, bees and beetles. Still largely undiscovered, the forest canopies of the earth are believed to hold roughly 40-50% of all species. 树冠上多层的肥厚泥土（几百年来空气灰尘的沉淀）滋养了一大批植物，动物：地衣（迄今为止已在红木树冠上发现186种），蕨类植物的空中花园，丛生的黑果灌木，怒放的杜鹃花，绯红树田鼠，蝾螈，蜜蜂和甲虫。 Mr Preston is clearly in love with his redwoods, even learning to “skywalk” so that he could climb some of them himself. With his hands-on approach, he brings to life the mystery and majesty of these giant wonders of the botanical world. 显然，普雷斯顿本身钟情于红木，甚至学习“天空漫步”自己去爬树。结合自己的亲身体验，他将植物世界这些奇迹巨人们的神秘与雄壮描绘地栩栩如生。 |
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